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Agoldsmith is ametalworker who specializes in working withgold and otherprecious metals. Modern goldsmiths mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, they have also madesilverware,platters,goblets, decorative and serviceable utensils, andceremonial orreligious items.
Goldsmiths must be skilled in forming metal throughfiling,soldering,sawing,forging,casting, andpolishing. The trade has very often includedjewelry-making skills, as well as the very similar skills of thesilversmith. Traditionally, these skills had been passed along throughapprenticeships; more recently jewelry arts schools, specializing in teaching goldsmithing and a multitude of skills falling under the jewelry arts umbrella, are available. Many universities and junior colleges also offer goldsmithing, silversmithing, and metal arts fabrication as a part of their fine arts curriculum.
Compared to other metals, gold ismalleable,ductile, rare, and it is the only solid metallicelement with ayellowcolor. It may easily be melted, fused, and cast without the problems of oxides and gas that are problematic with other metals such asbronzes, for example. It is fairly easy to "pressure weld", wherein, similarly to clay, two small pieces may be pounded together to make one larger piece. Gold is classified as anoble metal—because it does not react with most elements. It usually is found in itsnative form, lasting indefinitely without oxidization and tarnishing.
Gold has been worked by humans in allcultures where the metal is available, either indigenously or imported, and the history of these activities is extensive. Superbly made objects from the ancient cultures ofAfrica,Asia,Europe,India,North America,Mesoamerica, andSouth America grace museums and collections throughout the world. TheCopper AgeVarna culture (Bulgaria) from the 5th millennium BC is credited with the earliest found instances of gold metallurgy.[1][2] The associatedVarna Necropolis treasure contains the oldest goldenjewellery in the world with an approximate age of over 6,000 years.[3][4]
Some pieces date back thousands of years and were made using many techniques that still are used by modern goldsmiths. Techniques developed by some of those goldsmiths achieved a skill level that was lost and remained beyond the skills of those who followed, even to modern times.[5] Researchers attempting to uncover the chemical techniques used by ancient artisans have remarked that their findings confirm that "the high level of competence reached by the artists and craftsmen of these ancient periods who produced objects of an artistic quality that could not be bettered in ancient times and has not yet been reached in modern ones."[6][dubious –discuss]
Inmedieval Europe goldsmiths were organized intoguilds and usually were one of the most important and wealthiest of the guilds in a city. The guild kept records of members and the marks they used on their products. These records, when they survive, are very useful to historians. Goldsmiths often acted asbankers, since they dealt in gold and had sufficient security for the safe storage of valuable items, though they were usually restrained from lending at interest, which was regarded asusury. In theMiddle Ages, goldsmithing normally included silversmithing as well, but the brass workers and workers in otherbase metals normally were members of a separate guild, since the trades were not allowed to overlap. Manyjewelers also were goldsmiths.
TheSunar caste is one of the oldest communities in goldsmithing in India, whose superb gold artworks were displayed atThe Great Exhibition of 1851 in London. In India, 'Daivadnya Brahmins', Vishwakarma (Viswabrahmins, Acharis) 'Sunar' are the goldsmith castes.
Theprintmaking technique ofengraving developed among goldsmiths in Germany around 1430, who had long used the technique on their metal pieces. The notableengravers of the fifteenth century were either goldsmiths, such asMaster E. S., or the sons of goldsmiths, such asMartin Schongauer andAlbrecht Dürer.
A goldsmith might have a wide array of skills and knowledge at their disposal.Gold, being the mostmalleable metal of all, offers unique opportunities for the worker. In today's world a wide variety of other metals, especiallyplatinum alloys, also may be used frequently. 24karat is pure gold and historically, was known asfine gold.[7]
Because it is so soft, however, 24 karat gold is rarely used. It is usuallyalloyed to make it stronger and to create different colors. Depending on the metals used to create the alloy, the color can change.
The goldsmith will use a variety of tools and machinery, including therolling mill, thedrawplate, and perhaps,swage blocks and other forming tools to make the metal into shapes needed to build the intended piece. Then parts are fabricated through a wide variety of processes and assembled bysoldering. It is a testament to the history and evolution of the trade that those skills have reached an extremely high level of attainment and skill over time. A fine goldsmith can and will work to a tolerance approaching that of precision machinery, but largely using only his eyes and hand tools. Quite often the goldsmith's job involves the making of mountings forgemstones, in which case they often are referred to asjewelers.
'Jeweller', however, is a term mostly reserved for a person who deals in jewellery (buys and sells) and not to be confused with a goldsmith, silversmith, gemologist, diamond cutter, and diamond setters. A 'jobbing jeweller' is the term for a jeweller who undertakes a small basic amount of jewellery repair and alteration.
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In contrast, the earliest exploitation and working of gold occurs in the Balkans during the mid-fifth millennium BC, several centuries after the earliest known copper smelting. This is demonstrated most spectacularly in the various objects adorning the burials at Varna, Bulgaria (Renfrew 1986; Highamet al. 2007). In contrast, the earliest gold objects found in Southwest Asia date only to the beginning of the fourth millennium BC as at Nahal Qanah in Israel (Golden 2009), suggesting that gold exploitation may have been a Southeast European invention, albeit a short-lived one.
The first major gold-working centre was situated at the mouth of the Danube, on the shores of the Black Sea in Bulgaria
The oldest known gold jewelry in the world is from an archaeological site in Varna Necropolis, Bulgaria, and is over 6,000 years old (radiocarbon dated between 4,600 BC and 4,200 BC).
grave 43 at the Varna cemetery, the richest single grave from Old Europe, dated about 4600–4500 BC.
Media related toGoldsmiths at Wikimedia Commons
